Postings by Fenrir

I can't say I have much faith in them myself. My mystery mutt came back from Wisdom Panel as 25% Chow, 25% Old English Sheepdog, some Sheltie, and then a bunch of uncommon terrier breeds. I really can't see a single one of the breeds they listed in him, physically or in temperament.

I would have been more likely to accept Rigby's results for Fenrir. Wanna trade?

I was 19 when I bought Fenrir from the SPCA. But that was a shelter and not a rescue. The SPCA was actually really easy to adopt from. I didn't think much of it at the time, but now after trying to work with rescues, it makes me realize just how painless the SPCA made the process.

I was looking on Petfinder for a dog to adopt while I was going to school in New Orleans. Saw an awesome looking dog named Ratchet on the site, so I went down to the SPCA to look at him. Couldn't find him in the kennels, so I asked at the desk and they said that dog had been adopted. Looked around some more, but nothing stuck out at me so I went home. A couple weeks later I decided to try again. There were a couple Lab puppies, but they were on hold for people who were getting home checks.

Finally I noticed a rambunctious, older puppy labeled as a Chow mix. Asked if the tag was correct, because he didn't look like any Chow I'd ever seen, and was told it probably wasn't. Had him taken out into the yard to meet him, and he was totally nuts. Running all over, jumping repeatedly on the woman who was helping us, too excited to pay attention to any one thing for more than a few seconds.

Not sure to this day why I said I'd take him. They chipped him while I was filling out the paperwork and paying. As they brought him out on a lead, I foolishly crouched down to greet him. He jumped on me, as was his usual M.O., and I got a faceful of dog nails that left me bleeding. Everyone froze, clearly afraid I would change my mind, but I was already committed to making this dog work, especially because it had been my stupid mistake.

Turned out that commitment would make the difference, because he was not an easy dog, especially for someone who knew next to nothing about dog training. According to his paperwork, he'd been in the shelter since at least 8 weeks, because that's when they neutered him, and he was about 7 months when I got him. Aside from his non-stop jumping, he wasn't fully housetrained, growled and snapped at any discipline, even something as simple as a "no" (and I didn't know any other way to train), was food aggressive, and of course pulled constantly on lead. Tons of energy, no manners, seemed liable to bite- he was really more than I was equipped to handle.

We went to an obedience class recommended to everyone who adopted from the shelter, exercised religiously, worked on the jumping, and gave it some time. Most of his behavioral issues smoothed out after a few months, but until then, I wasn't always sure I hadn't made a mistake. He stayed very high energy until about three years old, but I found more effective ways of exercising him to cope. Helped a lot when we finally got to the point where he could be off lead for hikes. He's more mellow now, but still very athletic.

He's never really been my dog, he's a people dog that loves everyone. I know when I move out, he'll stay and live with my parents, who are both very fond of him. He's completely turned my mother on to the idea of adoption. Honestly, if I were to adopt again, he's probably not the dog I would choose. So I guess he was never really the right dog for me, but I don't regret adopting him because he has the forever home he deserves now.

I would take the results of the Wisdom Panel with a grain of salt. Sometimes they look fairly accurate, but most of the results I've seen have looked pretty unlikely. My shelter mutt came back as 25% Old English Sheepdog, 25% Chow Chow, 14.48% Shetland Sheepdog, 10.16% Silky Terrier, 7.93% Sealyham Terrier, 6.37% Irish Setter, 3.54% Manchester Terrier. Neither my vet nor I can see any of those breeds in him. So while the DNA tests are fun, I think they have a long way to go as far as accuracy.

As he matures, it should become more obvious what breeds he resembles, and at the very least, shouldn't be too difficult to tell if he's pure Lab or not.

I've seen more results that looked dead wrong than results that looked feasible, mostly from Wisdom Panel as that seems to be the most popular test.

Fenrir's Wisdom Panel came back 25% Old English Sheepdog, 25% Chow Chow, 14.48% Shetland Sheepdog, 10.16% Silky Terrier, 7.93% Sealyham Terrier, 6.37% Irish Setter, 3.54% Manchester Terrier. Can't say that I see any of those breeds in him at all.

Fenrir was Gumbo at the shelter. That's what you get for adopting a dog in New Orleans In retrospect I kind of wish I'd kept it though. It would be easier for people to understand when they ask his name.

I'd say keep an eye on him for anything worrisome but he should be ok. Maybe an upset stomach but he's large enough that a few pieces of cake probably won't cause any damage.

ETA: Had to change authors because your dog's motto and story reminds me of Fenrir. He's a terrible counter surfer which is where his "Veni Vidi Nom" comes from

He's eaten entire packages of pastries, whole sticks of butter, 1 1/2 lbs of uncooked bread dough, ect. and come through it all fine. It has gotten better since my parents have finally started remembering to put things out of his reach but anytime someone forgets, you can bet Fenrir won't forget to check